Revanche (Revenge) by Götz Spielmann

A masterfully told tale, with most shots so exquisitely composed that they are worth pausing at for minutes on end. Along with Silent Light, this is the best camera work I have seen in a while.


This is Austria's entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.

From the review by Erik McClanahan:

Revanche is a complex film that asks us to change sympathies with several characters and question who is doing the right thing. There are no easy answers, but the questions are fascinating, realistic and engrossing.

From the capsule review by Mike D'Angelo:

In execution, however, it's a thing of sheer beauty, the kind of film in which the details of each individual scene -- composition, rhythm, performances, stray bits of business -- are all so perfectly judged that their cumulative force kind of sneaks up on you.

From the review by Robert Bell:

As far as depressing hyperrealist Austrian films go, Revanche is neither as nihilistic nor misanthropic as the works of Ulrich Seidl, nor as analytical and directly confrontational as something from the Haneke oeuvre. It demonstrates a pre-occupation with the darker side of humanity in its creation of a world filled with prostitution, brothels, drug usage and rampant violence but living within that world are well intentioned and compassionate—if completely damaged and ruined—people who seem to care about each other regardless of an inability to connect.